40 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Now the important points of pruning a young tree involve the height 

 of the head of the tree at the time of starting and the height of the 

 head of the tree from the ground from that time hence. When you 

 have cut off your tree to a certain height the top of the tree will keep 

 growing away from the ground, but the trunk of the tree never grows 

 longer. The limb that is two feet from the ground at starting will al- 

 ways be two feet from the ground, no more, no less. 



If the pruning of a young tree involves the forming of the head; the 

 shaping of it, and its height from the ground, these are all very impor- 

 tant things and should be done thoughtfully and carefully. In other 

 words, the forming of the head of the tree involves the distance the 

 head shall be from the ground, whether that tree shall have an open 

 or compact top, whether it shall have a strong or weak top. Whether 

 the orchard shall be convenient for pruning in later years; whether 

 ii shall be convenient for spraying when you have to do so. No matter 

 what insects or diseases it may have, will it be low enough so that 

 you can readily reach it and get every disease and insect, if you do 

 thorough work — that is, those diseases which are controlled by spray- 

 ing? Will it be convenient for thinning of the fruit, if the tree hap- 

 pens to be overloaded? Will it be convenient for the harvesting of the 

 fruit? And lastly and least important, will it be convenient for culti- 

 vation? Then to summarize, there are four reasons why we desire to 

 have a low tree: 1. Convenience of pruning. 2. Convenience of thin- 

 ning the fruit: 3. Convenience for spraying. 4 Convenience for har- 

 vesting the crop. 



For convenience in cultivating we would like to have a tree well up 

 from the ground, but I have mentioned four good reasons against this 

 one, why a tree should be a low-topped one. 



Another reason for having a low 7 tree with a short trunk is that the 

 top will better protect that trunk and make it less subject to that dread- 

 ed sun-scald, which we have on southwestern and southern slopes, 

 particularly in the northern part of the state. A short trunk is better 

 than a long trunk, all things considered, for the reason that the tree 

 is more stable, and wiien the tree is mature and bearing, the fruit is not 

 so readily blown off. I think a good many of you have had more or 

 less trouble along this line this year. Then, all things considered, 1 

 think that there is no doubt that a low head and a low-topped tree are 

 preferable. Mr. Hall of Ionia will tell you that he likes to have his 

 Spy apple trees with the lowest limbs as high as his nose, and that is, 

 I believe, about six feet from the ground. I will say now that Mr. 

 Hall's orchard is a self-evidence of a firm determination to carry out 

 that idea. I do not think that there is a tree in his younger Spy orchard 

 that has a limb springing from the trunk lower than five and one-half 

 feet from the ground. He has his own reasons for that, which he will 

 no doubt tell vou. I frankly confess that I believe he is on the wrong 

 track, even if he is headed pretty straight up the line. 



How high should the trunk be on an apple tree? That depends upon 

 the varieties, the different kinds of fruit. Some trees grow upright, 

 others droop. An upright tree should have a lower head and a shorter 

 trunk. Those that have a tendency to droop, necessarily should have 

 a longer trunk in order to get the same results as the tree that grows 



